A new multi-institutional study, led by a team of researchers including Prof Carlo Palmieri, Prof Hannah Linden, and others, investigated the effectiveness and safety of a new oral medication called Enobosarm.
Enobosarm is a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM), which targets and activates androgen receptors in the body. This medication was tested in postmenopausal women who had advanced breast cancer that was positive for androgen receptors (AR), estrogen receptors (ER), but negative for HER2 (a protein that can promote the growth of cancer cells).
The study was conducted across 35 cancer treatment centers in nine countries and involved women who had previously received treatment for their breast cancer. The participants were divided into two groups, receiving either 9 mg or 18 mg doses of enobosarm daily.
The main goal was to see how many patients experienced a significant benefit from the treatment without the disease progressing after 24 weeks.
The results showed that both doses of enobosarm provided some benefit. About 32% of patients in the 9 mg group and 29% in the 18 mg group saw their cancer stop progressing or improve after 24 weeks.
Side effects were generally manageable, with the most common severe ones being related to liver enzyme increases, high calcium levels, and fatigue.
There were four deaths during the study, but the researchers contend these were not directly linked to the medication.
The research suggests that activating the androgen receptor with enobosarm could be a promising approach for treating certain types of advanced breast cancer.
This could be particularly useful for cancers that have stopped responding to standard hormone treatments. The findings support the idea of further exploring this treatment strategy in larger clinical trials.
The study is significant because it provided the first clinical evidence that SARMs, like Enobosarm, could be beneficial in treating breast cancer by targeting the androgen receptor. This approach differs from traditional treatments that primarily focus on estrogen receptors.
The study also highlighted the potential for using Enobosarm as an alternative to traditional hormone therapies, which can have challenging side effects and eventually become less effective as cancers develop resistance to them.
